Sharpton to Lead ‘Fighting’ Protest in DC ahead of Trump’s Inauguration

The Rev. Al Sharpton plans to lead a protest on the grounds of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 14, six days before before Donald Trump’s inauguration.

“Saddle up your horse and fight for the future of this country,” Sharpton told a crowd on Saturday in Harlem during his weekly nationally broadcast rally. “You think you’re going to take away our health care? Saddle up your horse. We’re going to fight every step of the way. You better know we’re coming. We ain’t backing down. We lost a round but the fight ain’t over.”

Al Sharpton in his younger ‘fighting’ days

Sharpton vowed to “put pressure” on senators who will have to confirm Trump’s cabinet nominees. He also said he has been meeting with members of Congress to create a legislative strategy for Trump’s presidency.

“We’re going to pressure the Senate on the Affordable Care [Act],” Sharpton said, referring to Trump’s vow to repeal President Barack Obama’s signature health care law. (Last week Trump told The Wall Street Journal that he would consider keeping some parts of the law. )

Sharpton said his organization, the National Action Network, is best positioned to take on Trump and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani — one of the president-elect’s most steadfast backers, who recently made his case to be the next attorney general.

“No one knows how to fight them better than us. We fought them [before], and we know how to fight them. We won Central Park,” he said, in reference to five black and Hispanic teenagers wrongfully convicted in a horrific 1989 rape in the park. They were exonerated in 2014.

At the time, Trump took out full-page ads in New York newspapers calling for the death penalty. He revisited the case last month when he said “police doing the original investigation say they were guilty. The fact that that case was settled with so much evidence against them is outrageous. And the woman, so badly injured, will never be the same.”

Sharpton also used the gathering to take shots at the media, which he said is blaming black voters for Hillary Clinton’s defeat, and criticized white women for not supporting Clinton. A CNN exit showed that 53 percent of white women backed Trump.

“We have got to hold the Democratic Party’s feet to the fire for losing the election,” Sharpton said. “We have lost an election but we haven’t lost our minds.”

Anita Fuentes is a full-time Christian Evangelist and Pastor. Founder and President of EMOAF Church and Open Your Eyes People broadcast she is the mother of 6 beautiful children and married to her husband for over 16 years. Evangelist Anita Fuentes loves the Lord Jesus Christ and is honored to serve Christians and those still seeking in their walk in life.